I sincerely believe that it is far more beneficial and far less costly to help a child build confidence than it is to fix an adult who has little or none.

It is so important that we communicate properly with the people around us or we will have misunderstandings and confusion. When you communicate with anyone, whether it is verbal or written, make sure you are very clear about what you mean. Sometimes we think other people know what we are talking about and they really don’t have a clue.

Men and women communicate very differently. When women talk they are also listening carefully to what has been said. When men talk, they do not listen very well and will miss a lot of details. In general, women have much better listening skills than men. Always be specific, make sure you state all the details and ask for feedback (is there anything you don’t understand?). When the details are very important ask for them to be repeated.

I heard a funny story today and I wanted to share it with you. It shows how misunderstanding and confusion can happen if you don’t communication your message properly to another person. The story is about a husband and wife and a shopping trip that went wrong. Enjoy and learn.

A lady needed some things to make a cake and she decided to send her husband to the store to buy them. Her husband was on his way to a sports event, but he agreed to go on 1 condition – there were only a few items and he could go through the express checkout. That way he would still be on time for the game.

The husband left and the wife expected him to return soon. However, time passed by and he wasn’t home, so she began to worry. She looked up the number of the grocery store and was about to call, but she heard him coming in the driveway. He came into the house with 3 bags, put them down on the kitchen floor and told her he would be back in with the rest of the bags.

The wife wondered what he was talking about and she started unpacking the bags. In the first one there was a pound of butter, 2 bags of icing sugar and 3 bottles of vanilla. In the second bag there were 4 dozen eggs. In the third bag was 5 packages of lard and her grocery list. She looked at the list and suddenly realized what had happened.

When her husband asked her to make sure he could go through the express checkout, she had numbered the items 1 through 7, something she had never done before……

1 pound of butter

2 bag of icing sugar

3 bottle of vanilla

4 dozen eggs

5 lard

6 big bag of flour

7 large carton of milk

She quickly put the list away before her husband came in with the rest of the bags and decided not to say anything at all about the numbers. Instead she planned on thanking him for being such a great husband.

He brought in several more bags that contained 6 large bags of flour and 7 large cartons of milk. Then he looked at his wife and said, “I obviously didn’t go through the express checkout because there was too much stuff. However, when the cashier was ringing up the last item, I realized what I had done and I just wanted to get out of the store because the people in line behind me were laughing.”